Valve's Gabe Newell: Game creators who use AI will become 'more effective developers of value'

Game devs might want to learn AI to help boost their leverage and overall advantage in the games industry, Valve boss Gabe Newell says.

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AI is expected to help the games industry by streamlining operations and giving creators more tools, but it's also impacting jobs at a time when companies are aggressively cutting costs. Valve's Gabe Newell of all people offers some advice to game developers who are looking to augment their skills while staying competitive--using AI could make video game creators more valuable in the long run.

In a recent Q&A with YouTuber Zalker Saliev, the patron saint of PC gaming offered his perspective on AI as it relates to programming and skill building, at least in the interactive space. Newell believes that workers in the field should make use of AI in some way, if for no other reason than to "scaffold" their abilities.

Q (Zalkar Saliev) - Do we need to learn AI on the technical side, or do we need to learn how to use AI, as in the tools that we have right now?

A (Gabe Newell) - "I think it's both. I think the more you understand what underlies these current tools, the more effective you are at taking advantage of them.

"But I think we'll be in this funny situation where people who don't know how to program, who use AI to scaffold their programming abilities, will become more effective developers of value than people who've been programming, for you know, a decade.

"Even if you're just a pure tool user, you're going to find that the games utilizing those tools are very, very high. But as your ability to use those tools improves, the more you understand the underlying methods and mindsets of people developing machine learning systems.

"I think it's both, and I think they're highly, highly complementary."